France - Paris - Part II

 As a few days ago French Chanteuse Juliette Gréco died a few days ago aged 93, we make this post about the classics of Paris.  Although Juliette was born in Montpelier, she moved to Saint-Germain-de Prés area of Paris when she was 7.   Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour wrote songs for her and she was in a relationship with Miles Davis.  Her mother had joined the resistance and the family were arrested during the German occupation.  Here's a 1967 rendition of her song Les Feuilles Mortes. RIP Juliette Gréco, 7 February 1927 - 23 September 2020:

And of course when talking about the classics, there is none more celebrated than the Sparrow of Paris, Édith Piaf (1915-1963).  She was a singer/songwriter, cabaret performer and actress.  Her songs were often autobiographical.  Despite numerous books and films about her life, much of it is unknown, but it is safe to say she lived life to the full.  She died early after a series of near-fatal car crashes and a life-long addiction to alcohol and medication.  Her last words were reportedly: "Every damn thing you do in this life, you have to pay for".  In that spirit here is Non, Je ne Regrette Riens:

Known to both the above women, Charles Aznavour is another towering figure in the Paris music scene.  Born in 1924 to Armenian parents, he performed right up to his death at the age of 94 in 2018 having written 1000's of songs for himself and others and sold almost 200 million records during his lifetime.  Here is one of his later performances of Hier Encore:

Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) was not only an influential singer/songwriter, but also a film composer, poet, painter, screen writer, actor and film director, who often liked to provoke the public with controversial songs, non more so than the 1967 song Je t'aime,... moin non plus, which he wrote for Brigitte Bardot and involves some heavy breathing.  It was banned on many radio stations at the time.  Here's a song from 1962 called La Chanson de Prévert:

Accordionist Marcel Azzola (1927-2019) accompanied the likes of Stan Getz and Jacques Brel.  Here is a piece called Rue de la Chine:

Francis Lemarque (1917-2002) was born Nathan Korb, the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and changed his name during the German occupation and joined the French resistance.  He wrote some 1000 chansons during his career including the ardent pacifist anthem Quand un soldat:

That's it for today, but we will linger a bit longer in Paris next time.

France - Paris - Part I

 Aahh Paris!  City of love, street cafés, sitting in a wicker chair, sipping Ricard or a glass of wine, accordion music spilling out onto the streets.  We start with jazz accordionist extraordinaire Ludovic Beier and a tune called Waltz in Paris, which features on the 2010 compilation The Rough Guide to Paris Café:

He often collaborates with Gypsy jazz guitarist Angelo Debarre and this tune, I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight, features on the same album:

Singer/songwriter Marianne Feder combines traditional chanson with jazz and sometimes gypsy and Balkan influences.  This is the title song from her 2019 album L'Hiver du Poètes:

Sadly singer and accordionist Belle du Berry, front woman of the fusion chanson band Paris Combo, died last month of cancer.  The band has been blending chanson with pop, jazz, swing, gypsy and North African influences since 1995.  They attribute their wide range of influences to the cosmopolitan nature of Paris and their popularity grew beyond France with multiple tours of the USA, Europe and Australia.  Here is a jazzy live number, the title track to their to date latest album from 2017, Tako Tsubo: 

Contemporary folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Yacoub started as a founder of Brittany folk band Malicorne in the 1970's.  In 1978 he launched his solo career, still drawing on traditional material, but giving them a contemporary twist.  He only seems to release new album every few years and his last album was in 2008 entitled De La Nature des Choses.  This is a song from that album called Le Café de la Fin du Monde:

In 1986 American underground cartoonist Robert Crumb came to Paris craving real Musette, the urban dance music of Paris of the early 20th century mixing folk dancing of the Auvergne with swing, gypsy and polka.  He went on to found Les Primitifs du Futur together with guitarist Dominic Cravic.  Having a cartoonist in the band also makes for fun album covers.  Here's a live version of their song Ivresses featuring on their 2008 album Tribal Musette:

And talking about Musette, Beltuner have been playing this style since 2001.  Some of their music is featured on the bonus CD on the 2010 album The Rough Guide to Paris Café.  Here's track from that album called No Comment:

We shall linger in Paris for wee while longer, but more for another day.  As usual you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.